People & Organizations
Microsoft Research
Swami manohar
Play has been central to Manohar's life.
In early childhood, he played ancient Tamil games like daayam and pallangulzhi, and card games of all kinds (as seen in the picture, aged 3, second from left). In school, he played everything from barefoot football with old tennis balls, to treasure hunts. In college, he was captain of the cricket team, and a member of the table tennis squad. He picked up squash, and ice-skating, in grad school, and went back to cricket at the Indian Institute of Science faculty team.
Professionally, his experience teaching VR/computer graphics at IISc, and building the handheld Simputer, extended play into the digital world. Personally, becoming a father of triplets— for thirty years and counting— has opened his eyes to the importance of play in learning and life.
Manohar plays table tennis today on the veterans' circuit, and other games of all kinds: anytime, with anyone willing to play. Linkedin»
gesu india
Gesu played countless classic outdoor games in her childhood, such as, Hide-and-Seek, Kabaddi, and Tag. She and her cousins followed their childhood pursuits during summer afternoons, scaling any and every tree they found in the village gardens, finding raw mangoes for summer cooler drinks, and collecting leaves and and flowers to decorate tiny clay forts.At age seven, she was introduced to the fascinating world of computer games, where Super Mario, Prince of Persia and Zoo Tycoon were some of her favorite games. Later, during her undergraduate years at IIT Patna, she was also a part of the college Basketball team and took part in various sports tournaments.
Currently, while working at Microsoft Research as a research fellow, she spends most of her time designing games and playful activities for young children with vision impairments, and strives to make STEM education fun and engaging through play. Like the games she played in childhood, she has found a way through her work, to express herself creatively and stay in touch with her childhood memories of play. Linkedin»
nirmalendu Diwakar
Nirmalendu loves creating accessible software and have done so over a variety of tech stack. The genesis of his interest in accessibility started when he created a VR simulator for visual impairments while he was pursuing my masters in computer science at Indian institute of Science. Since then he have been developing VR/AR software for blind and partially blind people. In addition to accessibility, computer graphics, distributed and intelligent systems interest him and he use them often while creating well rounded systems. Linkedin»
Joyojeet Pal
Joyojeet Pal is a Principal Researcher at Microsoft Research India, where his work focuses on various aspects of social media and society. He has worked on accessibility in the past, specifically on experiences with accessible technology use and infrastructure in the Global South. His past work has critiqued utilitarian approaches to design, which underestimate the value of ludic experiences in the adoption and continued use of personal technologies. Linkedin»
mohit jain
I am a researcher in the Technologies for Emerging Markets Group at Microsoft Research India. Broadly, I explore the introduction of emerging technologies to new populations, by developing ubiquitous computing systems, designing interaction techniques, and collecting and analyzing data. Over the past decade, I have worked on technological solutions for the developing regions focusing on Health, Accessibility, Sustainability, Education and Agriculture.
I received my Ph.D. in Computer Science & Engineering from the University of Washington, working at the intersection of HCI and AI, focusing on extending interactivity, accessibility and security of conversational systems. While pursuing my Ph.D, I also worked as a Senior Research Engineer in the Cognitive IoT team at IBM Research India. Prior to that, I graduated with a Masters in Computer Science from the University of Toronto, and did my undergrads from DA-IICT. Linkedin»
Divya prabha
Divya is a Designer at Microsoft Research, India. She has worked in interdisciplinary fields of design, who graduated from the Srishti Institute of Art, Design, and technology. Creativity has been an integral part of her life. She always loved to explore various disciplines to broaden her creative pursuits, integrating with design studies.
Her work at Microsoft focuses on designing games and developing the product for visually impaired children. She strives to blend design seamlessly with utility, accessibility, and affordability.
Design as second life, she always enjoyed her work by being creatively expressive through her projects. Linkedin»